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Not that you need me to comment, and I have not seen Redacted, but you hit on many points that have bothered me for sometime about modern political film and music.

They are far too literal, not nuanced enough and the filmmakers put the politics above the art and the art suffers.

A great example is Apocalypse Now vs the Redux version. The original is very liberal in its view of the Vietnam war but it is brilliant because it is about much more than Vietnam. It is about the horrors that man is capable of during any war and our potential for evil and sacrifice. It is poetry.

In Redux, which adds explicit commentary on Vietnam, the film is made smaller and less meaningful.

That seems to be the problem with modern political filmmaking. As long as the film has the right position it will be praised and if it is not it will be questioned.

I love Oliver Stone and the niche he carved out for himself as a very bombastic political filmmaker with unabashed views, even if I do not agree with them. But his influence on a generation of political filmmakers has been to inspire them to malke films that bludgeon you over the head with a mallet and then hit your throbbing skull a few more times to make sure you got the point.

I have not seen Redacted and do love DePalma, but this seems to be what you are saying. And the scene you describe with the interrogations seems like amateur filmmaking 101.

What made Nicholson's performance so powerful in A Few Good Men is that he takes sooooo long to crack. He is smooth under pressure and does not blow his lid. Until he finally does which is how the tension is created.

Sorry that Redacted is shaping up to be 'just another one of those' films. I'll see it as a DePalma completist however.

Just don't forget, Nicol, it works both ways.

Oh, what's the 'vloggy double' supposed to refer to? Another movie?

No, you imbecile. It's a bad pun on "Body Double."

Ah. I don't think I should be blamed for not getting it.

Jeff,

Of course. But there are so few films from the right at this point in cinema history it's hard to give an example.

Perhaps something like Red Dawn...but that is considered 'junk' for its politics.

Perhaps something like Rambo First Blood Part II, but again, that film never had the critical acclaim that a film like Redacted will surely find.

What I like about a show like 24, is that it plays to both ends of the spectrum at various points so it is embraced by both. You can see good and bad on both sides. I wish more of the current political films were like this.

I would love to see DePalma with a quality hit again, I actually love most of his films.

I think there are more 'right' films than you're crediting. Fewer overt ones in the Michael Moore/Paul Haggis mold, but plenty nonetheless.

Nicol: Actually, I'm always amused at the way "Law & Order" (especially the "mothership" show, but also the spin-offs) skirts hither and yon across the political divide. Some weeks, you may be absolutely sure that it's the work of bleeding heart liberals. Other weeks... well, it's like I told Dick Wolf when I interviewed him for "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" -- I had to admire his brass-balled audacity when he had an episode with an Ann Coulter-type character who WASN'T the villain of the piece. Of course, the mixed politics of the show is reflected in its casting: Sam Waterson and (until recently) Fred Thompson. If Waterson leaves as well, maybe you and I can take over their roles.

Great commentary, Poland. It's the reason I keep coming back. I haven't seen Redacted, but when I do I'll at least be prepared for another blown opportunity. I wonder if DePalma was just lazy or if he really believes that all soldiers are savages.

Joe and Jeff,

Unlike many people who skew right, I do not entirely blame the preponderance of left-wing entertainment at the foot of liberals. I think conservatives bitch far too much about Hollywood and think that the arts are something that they should not aspire to. They too often revel in their anger at Hollywood. Whenever I see another Drudge headline that says 'Hollywood Shocker' I cringe.

Also, I think too often they do not patronize films that they should.

Look at Cinderella Man - if ever there was a film that was a complete quality product and played into every nominal 'right wing' family value, that would be the film. Did they see it? No.

Another example would be the Apatow comedies. Vulgar, yes, but also very ideologically conservative. His last two films argued for virginity until marriage and pro-life. Do they credit him? No.

I would also argue that much of Steven Spielberg's and Michael Mann's works are ideolgically conservative even though they are not acknowleged as such.

Bryan Singer's work too, perhaps ironically, has a very conservative bent that many people overlook in their quest to see the 'gay imagery'.

Singer has put some of the most mainstream 'Christian' imagery in current pop films not just with Superman but with Nightcrawler in X-2.

Again, there are still many stories I would love to see and I will wretch at the Soderbergh/Che love fests next year, but I do love many main stream films and I wish more conservatives who complained would do it from a point of knowledge as opposed to a knee-jerk reaction.

Too often conservatives just want to run against Hollywood and fearmonger against it as opposed to actually creating worthwhile art themselves. That pisses me off as much as any film could.

I still believe there is a long way to go, but I do think conservatives have to take some responsibility and not just bitch all of the time. If a Cinderella Man comes out and you don't see it, it hurts your argument.

But Nicol, again I ask: Do you watch Law and Order? And do you agree that it defies easy political pigeon-holing?

Redacted is leading the critics scoreboard in Venice. That's all I know.

Camel; do you think it ranks that highly because of anti-war/anti-US foreign policy sentiment? Yes: I could easily be rather gung-ho about their response to this movie. Yet, really, I am curious as to how international sentiment effects critical response to a film Heat clearly feels to be a clusterfuck of some proportion. Nevertheless, Mighty Joe, Law and Order defies being good. Sorry Dick Wolfe. That's what you get for giving the bad mouth to freakin ALIAS! SHAME ON YOU WOLFEBOY! SHAME! Yeah; I went off on a tangents. It's one of my things.

IOIOIOI: So how is Life and Death Brigade these days?

Hating America is not unusual for foreign film fests, Kami. Same as it ever was.

I have actually been shocked by how high a percentage of Telluride folks have been derisive about the film. But I'm sure someone will just accuse them all of being too rich to care.

Bottom line: Anti-war... but still a bad movie... though look for the Scott Foundas rave.

Joe,

I thought you were just making a statement about Law and Order, not asking a question.

No, I do not watch it so I cannot attest to how balanced it is.

However, if the opening for a new cast occurs, you can bet I'd be more than willing to saddle up with you and be the new L & O Team.

I'd love to be able to be seen with you on A & E marathon reruns in perpetuity!

"SHE LOOKS LIKE THAT DEAD GIRL!!!"

CAN something be worse than "Black Dahlia"? Christ, I'm surprised they still let Aaron Eckhart act after that.

When DePalma's great, he's awesome, but when he's bad, he's so bad it makes even an ardent supporter like me feel embarrassed for defending him for so long. While he dropped some major clunkers pretty regularly even when he was on fire ("Get to Know Your Rabbit," "Home Movies," "Wise Guys") lately he's churning out two complete disasters for every one good one.

His once-impeccable craftsmanship now just seems so dated and dorky; Where Spielberg, Scorsese, the Scotts, Mann, etc., roll with the times and adapt their personal vision to the look and sound of contemporary cinema, DePalma's still doing wack film school tricks straight out of 1968-- Ooh, SPLIT SCREEN! Split diopter! They're looking into the lens!

Just means he's not trendy. I go to see a a DePalma movie to see a DePalma movie, not to see him do the same camera-trick of the month with everyone else.

never been a big fan of depalma's. yes, he has some classics. but he was never big on originality. and now, he seems to be re-making himself.

niccol: i've always considered myself an independent. i've voted for both parties, but definitely lean more conservative these days.

i disagree with your take on the more conservative fair. i think to support a project through ideology is the same slippery slope you view the democrats. and secondly, my father (who is very conservative) saw "cinderella man" and was unimpressed. not by the values, but lack of any character arc by the lead. it's very one note and not a lot that isn't predictable to the genre.

Hendhogan,

Oh, I actually agree that one should never like a project - only - because one agrees with it.

I only mentioned those films (that I actually do like) to show that not every mainstream film is a left wing scribe as too many conservatives tend to believe.

I do however think that if conservatives are going to bitch and moan about liberal Hollywood and how all of the values are crap, then they should at least make an effort to see the ones that are produced, assuming some base level of quality.

Cinderalla Man may not be perfect, but it is a quality project with real talent attached. It is not Left Behind Part 3.

i think the people that "bitch" on either side of the aisle tend to be extremists. and one should very rarely listen to the extremist.

"SHE LOOKS LIKE THAT DEAD GIRL!!!"

That was one of the best parts of (the hilariously inept) The Black Dahlia because Hilary Swank doesn't, and didn't, look anything like Mia Kirschner whatsoever. It's a hoot! Nothing beats Fiona Shaw's performance in that movie though. Utterly deranged.

Dave, I wasn't trying to make any sort of a point other than there are people who like it plenty as a sort of counter-balance. That's all.

I'm conservative and I see 100 movies & DVDs a year. I realize the vast majority of what I'm going to see is going to lean left and am pleasantly surprised when a movie gives credence to the other side. Some of the most unintentionally hilarious movies I've seen have been the ones where they wear their liberalism on their sleeve, like Rod Lurie's The Contender, which was laughably tone-deaf on so many levels. Too bad it hurt Gary Oldman's career. The only conservative movies these days are family films and action flicks. The problem with these fictional Iraq films, like Redacted and Rendition, is that they want to just rail against Bush but they're villifying the US in general. Then there's Sicko, where Michael moore bends over backwards to make every country int he world look better than the US, truth be damned.

To be clear, Krillian, it was Gary's attacks on DreamWorks, public and private, that killed is career... not the movie.

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